Casey, Lowry and Anderson

Toronto's lineup to start the 4th tonight was Amir, Acy, AA, Ross and Lowry. Who the fuck is going to score?

Toronto's top 4 best players this year IMO are(in this order): Calderon, DeRozan, Amir and Ed. 3 of those 4 guys were on the bench to start the 4th.

What surprises me more was, Calderon didn't get back into the game till 4mins left in the game. Cleveland that time pretty much had all the momentum not to mention the lead. It doesn't make sense to leave Lowry on the floor that long. He's just a mess. He's starting to remind me of Turkoglu. Just a bad fit on this team.

Anderson on the other hand. I mean, what was that? Irving is a guy that can shoot from everywhere. He should know that.

I also want to mention, 0.7 is long enough for a 'catch & shoot' and that what we come up with?!?!? I FEEL SICK TO MY STOMACH right now.

We have the only team in the NBA where the bench players are as good as the starters. Has been this way for 3 years now.

Trade EVERYONE except for Davis, Jonas, and Terrence. Let's start this thing all over again, much better plan than hoping for a hopeless playoff spot every single goddamn year which will surely result in a sweep.

Collect draft picks. Tank. Wiggins. Tank some more. Sign some veteran role players. Championship. Can I get hired?

Toronto's lineup to start the 4th tonight was Amir, Acy, AA, Ross and Lowry. Who the fuck is going to score?

Toronto's top 4 best players this year IMO are(in this order): Calderon, DeRozan, Amir and Ed. 3 of those 4 guys were on the bench to start the 4th.

What surprises me more was, Calderon didn't get back into the game till 4mins left in the game. Cleveland that time pretty much had all the momentum not to mention the lead. It doesn't make sense to leave Lowry on the floor that long. He's just a mess. He's starting to remind me of Turkoglu. Just a bad fit on this team.

Anderson on the other hand. I mean, what was that? Irving is a guy that can shoot from everywhere. He should know that.

I also want to mention, 0.7 is long enough for a 'catch & shoot' and that what we come up with?!?!? I FEEL SICK TO MY STOMACH right now.

This lost once again is on Casey. Sigh.

To your first question, who is going to score? Clearly Ross. 4 of those 5 players are scorers so I don't get the question maybe the only better offensive option was to go small and put demar in instead of Acy. In which case you get fucked on D. To the comment about players not starting the 4th, you want your best players rested if you know it's going to crunch time. The longer the starters on the bench without being forced to come in the better. I'll admit it was shitty on Anderson's defense but the cavs drew that play well(sortve) they were set for a high screen where once Anderson was caught Irving would drive and score. Anderson gave room(was still above the 3 point line) so that he could close out when the screen came and not get caught on it. Great shot by Irving. I will also agree that I would've 100% preferred a catch and shoot but other than that everything done was textbook raptors just got outplayed. Loss isn't entirely on Casey, only the drawn up alley oop.

We have the only team in the NBA where the bench players are as good as the starters. Has been this way for 3 years now.

Trade EVERYONE except for Davis, Jonas, and Terrence. Let's start this thing all over again, much better plan than hoping for a hopeless playoff spot every single goddamn year which will surely result in a sweep.

Collect draft picks. Tank. Wiggins. Tank some more. Sign some veteran role players. Championship. Can I get hired?

TRex man your threads are all panic button pushes lol. Lowry Ross and AA are the scorers Raps just take theirfoor off the throuat and stop playing desperate throughout the game and thats why they lose, also we are missin JV in the rotation Amir and Ed cant play these heavy minutes.

I do think Casey has some issues with substitution patterns, but it probably doesn't help much right now that we have some injuries to bigs. I really do no understand why Anderson always ends up getting so many shots. I do get that he's basically the designated bench scorer since he's the only guy other than the PG that can create something with the ball in his hands, but things have gotten out of hand. He takes way too many shots, but worse, he does it in these spurts where he's a black hole for several minutes, chucking it every time he touches the ball. It's really starting to piss me off. It totally destroys all sense of rhythm the team has, and then they have to struggle to get it back, usually also not happening until the whole group that was in when they (or rather AA) went cold.

Toronto's lineup to start the 4th tonight was Amir, Acy, AA, Ross and Lowry. Who the fuck is going to score?

Toronto's top 4 best players this year IMO are(in this order): Calderon, DeRozan, Amir and Ed. 3 of those 4 guys were on the bench to start the 4th.

What surprises me more was, Calderon didn't get back into the game till 4mins left in the game. Cleveland that time pretty much had all the momentum not to mention the lead. It doesn't make sense to leave Lowry on the floor that long. He's just a mess. He's starting to remind me of Turkoglu. Just a bad fit on this team.

Anderson on the other hand. I mean, what was that? Irving is a guy that can shoot from everywhere. He should know that.

I also want to mention, 0.7 is long enough for a 'catch & shoot' and that what we come up with?!?!? I FEEL SICK TO MY STOMACH right now.

This lost once again is on Casey. Sigh.

So exactly what is he supposed to do? Get up on him 30ft from the bucket, and inevitably get beat? Then its Casey's fault for not putting a quick enough defender on Irving, or Anderson's fault for not respecting Irvings ability to drive.

Irving hit a ridiculous shot to win the game. I'll take anyone in the league taking that shot over nearly any other shot possible. That was all on a great player hitting a great shot and the buzzer, and had nothing to do with any individuals raptor or their decision on defense.

Irving hit a ridiculous shot to win the game. I'll take anyone in the league taking that shot over nearly any other shot possible. That was all on a great player hitting a great shot and the buzzer, and had nothing to do with any individuals raptor or their decision on defense.

This is what it comes down to. Irving and Bryon Scot rolled the dice... they hit Yahtzee on the first roll. As Jay Triano would say " WTF you gonna do about it".

So exactly what is he supposed to do? Get up on him 30ft from the bucket, and inevitably get beat? Then its Casey's fault for not putting a quick enough defender on Irving, or Anderson's fault for not respecting Irvings ability to drive.

Irving hit a ridiculous shot to win the game. I'll take anyone in the league taking that shot over nearly any other shot possible. That was all on a great player hitting a great shot and the buzzer, and had nothing to do with any individuals raptor or their decision on defense.

Ok, so yeah, Irving hit a tough shot that you can't really do anything about when it happens, but I think your first question is stupid. You're up 2, with the other team only having time for one shot, and you don't get up on him at the 3pt line, the only place a shot can win the game for them? And don't say he could have drove and kicked to an open shooter, because I'd rather anyone taking a shot than Irving. There isn't much a coach can do about it, so maybe it's on AA, but either way it was poor score recognition for what type of situation they were in, whoever's fault it was.

Ok, so yeah, Irving hit a tough shot that you can't really do anything about when it happens, but I think your first question is stupid. You're up 2, with the other team only having time for one shot, and you don't get up on him at the 3pt line, the only place a shot can win the game for them? And don't say he could have drove and kicked to an open shooter, because I'd rather anyone taking a shot than Irving. There isn't much a coach can do about it, so maybe it's on AA, but either way it was poor score recognition for what type of situation they were in, whoever's fault it was.

it was def on AA.. DC was telling his guys NO 3's & what do ya know... a wide open 3..Live by the D Leaguer, Die by the D Leaguer.

Ok, so yeah, Irving hit a tough shot that you can't really do anything about when it happens, but I think your first question is stupid. You're up 2, with the other team only having time for one shot, and you don't get up on him at the 3pt line, the only place a shot can win the game for them? And don't say he could have drove and kicked to an open shooter, because I'd rather anyone taking a shot than Irving. There isn't much a coach can do about it, so maybe it's on AA, but either way it was poor score recognition for what type of situation they were in, whoever's fault it was.

Irving wasn't at the 3pt line, he was well behind it, and Anderson was standing on the 3pt line. And why are we assuming Irving would need to drive and kick? He's won games, tied games and generally made clutch baskets in every form possible. Irving is a superstar who took what amounts to a bad shot, hit it and won the game. Thats why he's a stud.

As pesterm1 put it the Cavs rolled the dice and won. The result is a statement of just how good Irving is.

Go watch Mike Fratello's breakdown of the play on nba.com. It's on the front page as one of the top 6 stories. Anderson totally misplays, great player or not that Irving is. And FWIW, in the replay Casey is clearly screaming at him to close the gap. I don't care if it's from 50 feet, YOU DO NOT LET THE OTHER TEAM'S BEST PLAYER TAKE AN OPEN 3 PT SHOT FOR THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME WHEN YOU'RE UP 2, IT'S JUST COMMON SENSE. Would Irving had still hit a shot if Anderson was actually right up on him? Maybe, he is a great player, but he certainly got exactly the shot he wanted and never had a doubt about it in his mind, and the D did nothing to prevent it at all.

Irving wasn't at the 3pt line, he was well behind it, and Anderson was standing on the 3pt line. And why are we assuming Irving would need to drive and kick? He's won games, tied games and generally made clutch baskets in every form possible. Irving is a superstar who took what amounts to a bad shot, hit it and won the game. Thats why he's a stud.

As pesterm1 put it the Cavs rolled the dice and won. The result is a statement of just how good Irving is.

My point was, making him drive or put the ball down and do something was key. If he was forced to drive, you already take the chance out that he would hit a game-winning 3, and your options become him taking a (hopefully tough) 2 pointer or having to kick it out to look for the win. Both of those are better than him taking an uncontested 3.

Again, I think if irving misses the RR boards is nothing but rainbows, unicorns and bunny rabbits. Instead he made the shot and now the sky is falling. our fans are Bipolar.

The sky isn't falling man. Just pointing out that it wasn't just Irving hit a big shot...he was given the shot. I would definitely be a bit less upset if we, you know, actually defended the last possession. He hit a big shot, but not a tough shot.

Go watch Mike Fratello's breakdown of the play on nba.com. It's on the front page as one of the top 6 stories. Anderson totally misplays, great player or not that Irving is. And FWIW, in the replay Casey is clearly screaming at him to close the gap. I don't care if it's from 50 feet, YOU DO NOT LET THE OTHER TEAM'S BEST PLAYER TAKE AN OPEN 3 PT SHOT FOR THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME WHEN YOU'RE UP 2, IT'S JUST COMMON SENSE. Would Irving had still hit a shot if Anderson was actually right up on him? Maybe, he is a great player, but he certainly got exactly the shot he wanted and never had a doubt about it in his mind, and the D did nothing to prevent it at all.

I agree.

A 30 ft jump shot with no defensive pressure is a joke for Irving and a lot of other NBA players. His coach told him to shoot for the win, he knew he was going to take a 3, he walked the ball up, lined up his shot and stepped in to it... swoosh.

The comparison to the Lin play last year are appropriate becuase it was pretty much the exact same play.... and outcome.

A 30 ft jump shot with no defensive pressure is a joke for Irving and a lot of other NBA players. His coach told him to shoot for the win, he knew he was going to take a 3, he walked the ball up, lined up his shot and stepped in to it... swoosh.

The comparison to the Lin play last year are appropriate becuase it was pretty much the exact same play.... and outcome.

Ive watched this play more than a few times today after watching it live. My reaction is still the same. If a guy is going to hit a 30 ft jumper to win the game .. then so be it .. not a lot you can do. Sure, i buy that given where the clock was and the lack of movement / screens by the other players, you maybe should be a little tighter .. but again, he pulled up from 5 feet beyond the 3 pt line! I dont know the percentages off hand (im sure there is somewhere to track it) .. but I would guess this is a shot that even the best players in the league (Kyrie certainly fits in that bucket) hit 20% of the time. Ill take those odds ..